Giant Tortoises Once Lived 1,000 Years Ago in Madagascar, Weighing About 270 Kg

ANTANANARIVO – Kura-kura giants weighing around 600 pounds or 272 kg are thought to have lived in Madagascar. Type of turtle giant this extinct species was on a par with mammoths and other large herbivores.

Scientists discovered the species while studying the mysterious pedigree of the giant tortoise that lives off Madagascar and other islands in the western Indian Ocean. They found evidence of a single tibia, or lower leg bone, from an extinct tortoise.

They analyzed its nuclear and mitochondrial DNA, then determined that the animal was a new species which they named Astrochelys rogerbouri. The turtle species name is taken from the late Roger Bour (1947-2020), a French herpetologist and expert on the western Indian Ocean giant tortoises.

Also read; The Fernandina Island Giant Tortoise That Extinct A Century Ago Turns Out to Have Descendants in the Galapagos

In research published Jan. 11 in the journal Science Advances, scientists don’t yet know exactly when the newly discovered species went extinct. However, from the specimens studied it appears to be around 1,000 years old.

“As we get better technology, we can provide different types of data that often change our perspective. It’s great to find members of a new species,” said Karen Samds, a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Northern Illinois, told Live Science, Thursday (12/1/2023).

Most of those native species are now extinct due to human activity, and paleontologists are struggling to piece together accounts of these ancient giant tortoises. But analyzing the giant’s ancient DNA provides a way forward, to unraveling prehistoric island life.

“If you want to know what the ecosystem of this island was like in the first place, it is necessary to include this large and extinct giant tortoise because it has an important role. To understand the key role they play, it is necessary to understand how many giant tortoises there are, where they live and how they got there,” said Samonds.

Also read; The World’s Ugliest Orchid Found in the Forests of Madagascar

By the time explorers began collecting giant tortoise fossils in the 17th century, Madagascar’s native giant tortoise population had long since disappeared. It is possible that the giant tortoise species fell victim to colonization by Indo-Malays 1,000 years earlier. Not to mention European sailors harvested turtles for food and turtle oil.

(wib)